Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities: Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice

One of the largest and most complex human services systems in Western nations has evolved to address the needs of people with developmental disabilities. In the U.S., for example, school budgets are stretched thin by legally mandated special education, and billions of Medicaid dollars annually are consumed by residential and professional services to this population. The temptation of a quick fix is strong. Many parents desperately seek the latest ideas and place pressure on program administrators, who often are not trained to think critically about the evidence base for intervention efforts. The problems of people with developmental disabilities have historically been targeted by a wide range of professionals who rely on clinical experience and intuition and do not submit their claims to the tests of scientific research. Professional entrepreneurs have energetically promoted their treatments to a public perhaps too trustful of those with credentials. Thus, families and their children are buffeted by reforms founded on belief and ideologically driven management. Services fluctuate with the currents of social movements and rapidly shifting philosophies of care as policymakers and providers strive for increased responsiveness and individualization. These forces affect not only where and how, but how well people are served. Too often, services are less effective than they could be, or worse, damaging to personal growth and quality of life. Many treatments are based on poorly understood or even disproven approaches. What approaches to early intervention, education, therapy, and remediation really help those with mental retardation and developmental disabilities improve their functioning and adaptation? And what approaches represent wastes of time, effort, and resources? This book brings together leading behavioral scientists and practitioners to focus light on the major controversies surrounding these questions. The authors review the origins, perpetuation, and resistance to scrutiny of questionable practices, and offer a clear rationale for appraising the quality of services. In an era of increasing accountability, no one with a professional stake in services to individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities can afford not to read this book.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Foxx, Richard M.

Mulick, James A.

Jacobson, John W.

Mental Health

Routledge

Psychology & Counseling

Transitions in Mental Retardation: Advocacy, Technology, and Science Vol 1 (001)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Ablex Pub

Transitions in Mental Retardation: Issues in Therapeutic Intervention (2)

Transitions in Mental Retardation: Applications and Implications of Technology (4)

Parent-Professional Partnerships in Developmental Disability Services

Academic Guild Pub

In ""Autism Spectrum Disorders"", Dr. James A. Mulick shows his approach to counseling children with autism and their parents. Autism spectrum disorder, which includes autism and Asperger syndrome, is characterized by impairment in communication skills, social interactions, and repetitive patterns of behavior. Dr. Mulick works with families with autistic children to help them handle this disorder. In this session, Dr. Mulick works with a mother of a 10-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with autism. Dr. Mulick uses his behavioral - educational approach to assess the present situation and makes several intervention suggestions, including exposure, distraction, and reinforcement. About the Approach: Dr. Mulick's approach to working with parents emphasizes both family advocacy and alliance building and behavioral intervention. During most characteristically brief family encounters in pediatric psychology settings, parents are looking for an indication that they can be helped to solve behavior and learning problems that they may be having with their children; and they are seeking reassurance that the therapist understands their love and very special relationship with their children. Because child learning and behavior problems occur and consequently must be solved in the natural environment, rather than in the therapist's office during 50-minute sessions, they must ultimately be solved by the people in the child's natural environment. They also must be solved in real time. Dr. Mulick tries to convey these messages as he gathers information about parent motivation and functional relations affecting the child's behavior for development of an initial treatment plan. Further observation of the child in home and community settings and focused parent training in behavior change procedures constitute the next steps following the initial parental clinical interview.

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Amer Psychological Assn

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Books by Mulick, James A.